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1940 BCE
The Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain was fought from July through September 1940. Luftwaffe made available about 1,300 bombers and dive-bombers to Britain. Fighter Command employed squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes and Spitfires. Bomber squadrons were based in arc around England from Norway to Cherbourg. -
J.Edgar Hoover Becomes Head of the FBI
Hoover was born January 1, 1895, in Washington, D.C. He graduated from law school in 1916 and joined the Department of Justice in 1917. In 1924, he was appointed acting director of the Bureau of Investigation. Hoover was named Director at the end of the year. -
Mein Kampf is Published
Volume One of Adolf Hitler's philosophical autobiography, Mein Kampf, is released on July 18, 1925. It was a plan for his Third Reich program, and it foreshadowed the tragedy that would overtake Europe. In its first year, the book sold a total of 9,473 copies. -
Stock Market Crash Begins Great Depression
In October 1929, the stock market crashed, wiping out billions of dollars of wealth. The crash was preceded by a period of exuberant economic and social growth within the U.S. Known as the Roaring Twenties, until the peak in 1929, stock prices went up by nearly 10 times. -
The Dust Bowl Begins
In the 1930s, the Dust Bowl was a drought-stricken region of the United States. High winds and choking dust swept through the region, killing humans and livestock from Texas to Nebraska. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, John Steinbeck memorialized the Okies' plight. -
Olympic Games in Berlin
The modern Olympic Games were held for the tenth time in Berlin. The Games, which were held in a tense, politically charged setting, attracted 49 countries. For the first time, the Games were broadcast live on television, through closed circuit to Berlin theaters. It was the first Olympics to use electronic results delivery. -
Franklin Roosevelt is Elected President (1st Time)
He campaigned to expand the Supreme Court, Roosevelt died in Warm Springs from a brain hemorrhage. The Monroe Doctrine was transformed from a unilateral American declaration into plans for cooperative action against aggressors when Roosevelt dedicated the United States to a "good neighbor" policy. Roosevelt replied with a new reform agenda that included Social Security, more taxes on the wealthy, stricter laws over banks and public utilities, and a high unemployment relief program. -
Adolf Hitler Become Chancellor of Germany
Hitler ruled Germany from 1933 until his death by suicide in April 1945. His invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, triggered the European phase of World War II. During the course of the war, Nazi military forces executed 11 million victims they deemed inferior or undesirable. -
CCC is created
Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on April 5, 1933. By July 1, 1933, more than 300,000 men were put to work in conservation projects. The CCC planted more than 3.5 billion trees by the end of World War II. The CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation's history. More than 700 new state parks were established through the CCC program. -
WPA is created
The WPA put 8.5 million Americans to work during its eight years of existence. $27 million of the nearly $5 billion earmarked for WPA work programs went to the arts. Women worked in clerical jobs, gardening, canning and as librarians and seamstresses. -
J.J. Braddock Wins Heavyweight Boxing Title
It was 86 years ago today that James J. Braddock won the heavyweight boxing title. The story was captured well in the 2005 Ron Howard film titled Cinderella Man. Russell Crowe portrayed Braddock in the movie, while Paul Giamatti won an Academy Award. Like real life boxer James J. Braddock, Sylvester Stallone's fictional character Rocky Balboa also fought for the heavyweight title. In real life, both Braddock and Rocky were 30 years old at the time of their fights. -
Kristallnacht
On November 9, 1938, Nazi mobs torched or vandalized hundreds of synagogues throughout Germany. Some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. During World War II, the Nazis murdered some 6 million European Jews in what came to be known as the Holocaust. -
Grapes of Wrath is Published
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was the top-selling novel of 1939 and won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. The narrative traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California. It is interspersed with prose-poems that explain the wider circumstances of the world. -
Wizard of Oz Premiers in Movie Theaters
On August 25, 1939, The Wizard of Oz opens in theaters around the United States. The film starred Judy Garland as young Kansas farm girl Dorothy. Today, some of the film's famous lines are well-known to several generations of moviegoers. It was one of the first 25 films to be put on the National Film Registry. -
Germany Invades Poland
Within a month of the onslaught, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans. Most of eastern Poland was taken by Soviet forces, while western Poland remained under German rule until 1945. Germany forced Jews to wear white armbands with a blue Star of David to identify themselves and conscripted them for forced labor. -
The Four Freedoms Speech
Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Speech was delivered to Congress on January 6, 1941. The speech gave hope to a war-wearied people who knew they were fighting for freedom. The speech went through seven drafts before final delivery.FDR edited, rearranged, and added extensively until the speech was his creation.The ideas enunciated in Roosevelt's Four Freedoms were the foundational principles that evolved into the Atlantic Charter, United Nations and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base in Hawaii. It was the scene of a devastating attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 were wounded. -
The Battle of Midway
Japanese aircraft carriers attacked and damaged the US base at Midway. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, US carrier forces were just to the east of the island ready for battle. Navy cryptanalysts had begun breaking Japanese communication codes in early 1942. The Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned. -
Operation Torch
Allies invasion of North Africa in 1942 was intended to relieve pressure on Soviet Union. The primary objective of the Allied landings was to secure bridgeheads for opening a second front to the rear of German and Italian forces battling the British in Libya and Egypt. American leaders immediately set to using this experience for tougher tests in the near future. -
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program
President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Commission on with Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts as its chair. The Commission cooperated with the U.S. Military program known as Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives to protect cultural treasures. Letters from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander-in-Chief, AFH to All Commanders, Security Classified General Correspondence. It is the responsibility of every commander to protect and respect historical monuments and cultural centers. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. More than two million troops fought in close quarters from August 1942 through February 1943. In February 2018, Russians gathered to mark the 75th anniversary of the city's liberation. -
The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was one of the bloodiest battles of World War Two. It was Hitler's response to his devastating defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. Ultimately, Germany's plan to wipe out the Red Army once and for all failed. -
D-Day
The Battle of Normandy lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, also known as D-Day. 156,000 Allied troops landed on five beaches along the coast of France's Normandy region. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was Adolf Hitler's last major offensive in World War II. The Germans' aim was to split the Allies in their drive toward Germany. U.S. Gen. George S. Patton Jr.'s 101st Airborne broke through German lines on Christmas Day 1944. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. U.S. Marines and Imperial Japanese troops fought for five weeks on the island in 1945. Estimates suggest more than 25,000 casualties, including nearly 7,000 deaths, from the battle. -
The Death of FDR
On April 12, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt fainted at his Georgia retreat. A doctor recognized the symptoms of a massive cerebral hemorrhage and gave the president a shot of adrenaline into the heart. Doctors pronounced FDR dead by 3:30 p.m.; he had served four terms in office. FDR had kept his vice president in the dark about the Manhattan Project's development. He left Truman with the difficult decision of whether or not to develop and ultimately use the atomic bomb. -
The Death of Adolf Hitler
In January 1945, facing a siege of Berlin by the Soviets, Adolf Hitler withdrew to his bunker to live out his final days. Located 55 feet under the chancellery, the bunker contained 18 rooms and was self-sufficient, with its own water and electrical supply. -
The Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II. It resulted in an Allied victory, though kamikaze fighters, rainy weather and fierce fighting on land, sea and air led to a large death toll. Japanese troops had been instructed not to fire on the American landing forces.The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Over 49,000 casualties were suffered by both sides, including 12,520 killed by the U.S. and 110,000 by the Japanese. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
World's first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. The intended target of the first bomb was Hiroshima, a fan-shaped city of approximately 550,000 people. At least 110,000 Japanese soldiers and more than 100,000 Okinawan civilians perished in the campaign. -
Atomic Bombing Nagasaki
Fat Man detonated at an altitude of 1,650 feet over Nagasaki with a yield of 21 kilotons. It was 40 percent more powerful than Little Boy had been. The decision to use Fat Man was based on weather and the belief that two bombings in quick succession would convince Japan U.S. had plenty of atomic devices. -
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual multi-day jazz music festival held in Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard hired George Wein to organize it. The festival is often held in the same month as the Newport Folk Festival. -
Nixon-Kennedy Debates (1st on Television)
Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith debated on Face the Nation on November 4, 1956. Debate was first televised presidential debate before 1960's Kennedy-Nixon showdown. Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower did not appear in the first televised debate. In 1960, Margaret Chase Smith faced Eleanor Roosevelt in the first televised presidential debate. The event took place two days before the election, and focused almost entirely on issues of foreign policy. Public reaction was mixed. -
The Beatles Break Up
The Beatles broke up in 1969, seven years after releasing their first album. Many trace the breakup to the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. Epstein died of a drug overdose, the Beatles lost a man who managed both their finances and their egos. John Lennon told McCartney and Starr that he was leaving the group during a meeting with Klein. The Beatles signed the deal that would give Apple ownership of their back catalogue on the day that Lennon left the band. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Kennedy's casket was moved from the White House to the Capitol on a caisson drawn by horses. Crowds lined Pennsylvania Avenue and many wept openly as the caisson passed. The funeral was attended by heads of state and representatives from more than 100 countries. -
The Beatles Appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show
The Beatles made several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their first appearance, on February 9, 1964, was seen by a then-record 73 million viewers. It came to be regarded as a cultural watershed that launched Beatlemania in the U.S. -
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Vietnam War began after 1954 split of Vietnam into northern and southern halves. Diem failed to capture the loyalties of the people of South Vietnam the way Ho Chi Minh had done in North Vietnam. Operation Rolling Thunder commenced on February 13, 1965 and continued through the spring of 1967. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a U.S. bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965. It was intended to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam. President Johnson restricted the bombing of North Vietnam to the southern part of the country. -
March on the Pentagon
Civilian Deputy Marshals, acting as the civil authority of the federal government, made all the arrests. Deputies worked without relief, taking few breaks, and responded to rioters with increasingly rough treatment. A total of 682 people were arrested; no one was seriously injured. -
Riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention
Chicago, Illinois, U.S. The convention of 1968 was held during a year of riots, political turbulence, and mass civil unrest. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April of that year inflamed racial tensions to an unprecedented level. -
Mai Lai Massacre
The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. More than 500 people were slaughtered, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated. U.S. Army covered up the massacre for a year before it was reported in the American press. Killings included women, children, men, livestock and an unknown number of women. -
Woodstock
Woodstock Music Festival began on August 15, 1969, in Bethel, New York. The epic event would later be known simply as Woodstock. It was the brainchild of four men, all age 27 or younger, who were looking for an investment opportunity. Woodstock was originally supposed to be held in Wallkill, New York. Town officials spooked by the controversy, they backed out of the deal. Woodstock became a free event after partners decided to stop charging concert-goers for transportation and facilities. -
Kent State Protest
On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine students. H. R. Haldeman, a top aide to President Richard Nixon, suggests the shootings had a direct impact on national politics. -
Roe vs. Wade
In 1970, Jane Roe (a fictional name used in court documents to protect the plaintiff’s identity) filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where she resided, challenging a Texas law making abortion illegal except by a doctor’s orders to save a woman’s life. In her lawsuit, Roe alleged that the state laws were unconstitutionally vague and abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. -
Chicago 8 Trial
In 1968, two groups met to discuss using the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to highlight their opposition to the Vietnam War and establishment values. MOBE and YIPPIES had different leaderships, agendas, and favored different forms of protest and demonstrations. Organizers also planned to press their complaints concerning racism in U.S. policies and politics.